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It's highly fortuitous, then, that the Dunmore native is scheduled to visit the area to speak on the topic in the midst of Russia's domination of the recent news cycle, from its harboring of NSA leaker Edward Snowden to its involvement in the U.S.-Syria chemical weapons standoff.

On Friday, Sept. 27, Ms. Dougherty, the foreign affairs correspondent for cable news giant CNN, will give a talk at the University of Scranton as part of its Schemel Forum World Affairs Luncheon Seminars series.

Titled "Putin's Soft Power Strategy," the talk will take place in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the university's DeNaples Center from noon to 1:30 p.m. Admission is $20 per person, $30 per couple and free for Schemel Forum members. For more information, call 570-941-7816 or email kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

Ms. Dougherty's visit comes on the heels of her recent announcement that she's leaving CNN at the end of this year to pursue a new career as a writer, lecturer and teacher specializing in contemporary Russian issues.

"It's just a good time for me to take on a different type of challenge in an area that I'm really interested in," said Ms. Dougherty during a recent phone conversation from the Russian capital of Moscow, where she was on assignment for CNN.

Russia, of course, is a major player in the recent tensions between the U.S. and Syria over the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons on its people. The U.S. had threatened air strikes in retaliation, but has since worked in partnership with Russia, a major Syrian ally, on a deal that would allow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to turn over his chemical weapons arsenal to the United Nations.

This is just the kind of high-profile role on the world stage that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking via his "soft power diplomacy," a campaign focused on culture, language and ideas to attract more international support. Basically, Ms. Dougherty said, the thinking is that if the things you promote are attractive to other countries, then those countries "are more likely to do what you want them to do."

The whole idea of soft power is nothing new for Russia. During the Cold War, the Soviets used a similar strategy of public diplomacy and propaganda.

"There's hard power, which is guns and war and bribes. And then there's soft power, which is more the power of attraction," said Ms. Dougherty, who devoted her recent master's thesis at Georgetown University to the topic.

Often, these ideas collide with American interests, such as in the case of Mr. Snowden, who leaked classified information on the National Security Agency's surveillance program. Ms. Dougherty said she believes Mr. Putin sees that issue as a good opportunity to score some anti-U.S. propaganda points with the rest of the world.

"With Putin, I think he feels that after 9/11, he was the first international leader to call President Bush to express solidarity in the support of the fight against terrorism. He thinks he really didn't get much out of that," Ms. Dougherty said. "He has very little patience left for the United States."

Ms. Dougherty's interest in Russia goes back to her days studying Russian in teacher Mike Peregrim's class at Scranton Central High School. She majored in Russian language and literature at the University of Michigan, and served as CNN's Moscow bureau chief for nearly a decade.

Asked what the great attraction was for her, Ms. Dougherty said, "I think it's because Russia is one of the great civilizations in the world. It's a great civilization, and a very unique culture."

It's an enigmatic place, one that many Americans don't quite understand, she said.

"The differences between the two countries are major," she said. "But at least we're not threatening to blow each other up anymore."

Contact the writer: jmcauliffe@timesshamrock.com, @jmcauliffeTT on Twitter If you go

Details: The talk is part of the university's Schemel Forum World Affairs Luncheon Seminars series. Admission is $20 per person, $30 per couple and free for Schemel Forum members. For more information, call 570-941-7816 or email kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

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